Month: July 2010

SF Supes Approve Hunter’s Point EIR After Marathon Meeting (BCN via ABC7, SF Curbed) Funding Concerns Won’t Delay Transbay Transit Center Project (SF Gate) Plan Revived to Transform Muni Bus Yard Into Housing Development (SF Examiner)  Auto Workers Plan to Sue NUMMI, Toyota Over East Bay Shutdown (ABC7) City Seeks Input on Where to Put … Continued

"San Mateo, Calif. — The City of San Mateo’s Department of Public Works is holding its first community workshop for the development of the City of San Mateo Bikeways Master Plan – a critical planning document that will help determine bicycling paths in San Mateo for years to come. Public Works is seeking broad community input.

Despite the difficult economic times and the large service cuts last December and again in May this year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced that Muni had achieved its best quarterly on-time performance rate ever, or 75 percent, from January through March, 2010.

The fat lady hasn’t sung yet, but the country’s auto dealers have been exempted from the financial reform bill now in its final stage in Congress. Given that the purpose of the bill is to protect Americans from harmful manipulation by the people selling them financial products, this is a pretty stunning development. The nation’s auto dealers either provide or broker most of the $850 billion worth of currently outstanding car loans across America. That’s a pile of financial product: It’s more than household credit card debt and second only to home mortgages.

As California's big four metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) run models to determine how much they can influence California's growth and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, significant questions remain. The state's Senate Bill 375, typically referred to as the Anti-Sprawl Bill, requires that planners and policy makers develop meaningful solutions to reduce sprawl, reduce vehicle miles traveled and promote growth in areas that will have the least impact on the environment.

Elsbernd/SPUR Muni Measure Certified for November Ballot (City Insider, SF Examiner) MTC to Consider Allocating Millions for 24th Street BART Station Upgrade (SF Examiner) Hunter’s Point Plan Before SF Supes Today; Chiu Offers Amendments (City Insider, SF Examiner) San Mateo Approves Office Development near Hayward Park Caltrain Station (Daily Journal) Alta Planning & Design Lands … Continued

At another marathon Planning Commission meeting last week, parking was all the rage. Two projects in particular had community members and housing and transit advocates fired up because of the parking that developers proposed to build, or in one case, to not build.

Editor’s note: Our search for a national reporter to take over Streetsblog Capitol Hill wouldn’t be complete without putting out a call to the audience with the greatest passion for livable streets and sustainable transportation policy — our readers. To apply, send a resume, cover letter, and relevant clips to jobs [at] streetsblog [dot] org. … Continued

With the fourth Sunday Streets in the Mission over the past two years recently completed, the verdict is in and the community is very happy with the results. In addition to the tens of thousands of people coming out to enjoy the sun and open streets while pedaling and strolling, the events have had a very positive impact on the bottom line.